1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that detects an abnormal region from an image, an image processing method, and a computer-readable recording device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are conventional technologies for reducing the burden on doctors, or the like, who observe an in-vivo image that is obtained by capturing an image of the inside of the body (the lumen) of a subject by using a medical observation apparatus, such as an endoscope, capsule endoscope, or the like. One technology is for detecting an abnormal region, such as a bleeding site, from an image (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-192880). Japanese Laid-open. Patent Publication No. 2005-192880 discloses that each pixel of the image or each rectangular region obtained by dividing the image is first mapped into a feature space based on color information, clustering is performed on the feature space, normal mucosa clusters and abnormal region clusters are identified on the basis of information, such as the size of each cluster or the coordinates of the center of gravity, and then the pixels or rectangular regions belonging to abnormal region clusters are detected as an abnormal region. The color information is a pixel value (R, G, B) or a value calculated from the pixel value. The color information may be the chromaticity obtained by R/(R+G+B), G/(R+G+B), or the like, or the color ratio obtained by R/G, or the like.